Poetry

My first introduction to Czeslaw Milosz was during the film Under the Tuscan Sun, when the main character and her repairman have no common language except that of the poet, Czeslaw Milosz. I always intended to discover what made his work translate across cultures so effortlessly.

I didn't even realize Milosz was a poet until I stumbled upon his book, A Book of Luminous Things, in the library a few weeks ago. At no point have I ever been fond of the poetry genre--too often the verses' significance is lost on me along with their rhythm and meter--and discovering this long-sought author was of the poetic nature, I was disappointed.

I grabbed the book based completely on the use of "luminous" in the title.

A few weeks later and I am completely engrossed in the pages. Luminous is divided by sections and are meant not to educate us about the austerity of poetry but to remind us "that for some very good reasons it may be of importance today." In an age fraught with technological and epistemological reasoning, I can't help but find the simple aesthetic of a poet to be reassuring. Milosz does not write his own poetry here, but instead edits a collection of sometimes prolific, sometimes quiet authors.

Many of the poems are from Eastern writers of a different era--the early 700s. Although the Eastern poems were naturalistic in their discussion of mountains and the buds of spring, I found the beauty stunted--trying to discern how their fragile, patroned lives could figure into this century. There were few American writers and many translations of Polish and Russian poetry. Each poem begins with Milosz's brief thoughts--which can be somewhat frustrating, to have an image superimposed before you even make conclusions for yourself.

Since my own poetic experience is limited, I'm reminded of one of the few other books of poetry I've read and enjoyed, which you can take for what it is worth. Garrison Keillor's collection of "Good Poems" is unpretentiously filled with some of the better modern poetry I've read. Both of these poets take little known selections and have their subtle impact bounce from the middle of a perfectly adequate text.

As for Milosz, I have every intention of finding some of his poetry to read. However, I have little doubt that his ability should be in question, based on his ability to select a series of achingly fantastic samples.

I will include some samples below, once the book is returned to me from a co-worker who also saw the title and quickly pilfered it from my desk...